Method of and apparatus for burning gaseous oxygen in internalcombustion engines



Jun@ 10, 1924. ummm E. M. SHINKLE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR BURNINGGASEOUS OXYGEN IN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed April 5, 1922 214.Mft/( www Hmuci,

Patented JuneA 1o, 1924.

UMTED EDWARD M. SHINKLE, O F THE UNITED STATES ARMY.

METHOD F AND APPARATUS FOR BURNING GASEOUS OXYGEN IN INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

Application filed April 5,

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, EDWARD M. SHINKLE, a lieutenant colonel in theUnited States Army.l and a citizen of the United States. at

present stationed at Washington, in the District of Columbia, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of andvApparatus for Burning Gaseous Oxygen in Internal-Combustion Engines; andI do hereby declare the following to Abe a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertainsto make and use the sa'me.

This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for burning gaseousoxygen in in` ternal combustion engines, and has for its object toimprove the processes heretofore proposed.

With this and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novelsteps and combinations of steps constituting the process, and in thenovel parts and combinations of parts constituting the apparatus, all asl' ,will more fully be hereinafter disclosed .and

particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of-thisspecification, in which like numerals designate like parts in all theviews:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of an automobile with this inventionapplied thereto;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view, partially broken away, of alcarburetor illustrat-ingthe'application of oxygen thereto;

Figure 3 is asectional detail view of a port-ion of the dashboard oftheautomobile' and a control apparatus for the oxygen; and

Figure 4 is a sectional diagrammatic view of an oxygen containing tankillustratin howdangers from the explosions of. sai tank may belessened., Y

1 indicates any suitable container' for gaseous exygen, provided withany suitable out: let 2 leadingv to the dashboard 3 of yan auto'- mobileand provided witha connection 4 controlled by any suitable means such asthe valve 5.` vJoined to said connection, is the 50 pipe 6 leading totheair intake 7 of the caring the engine.

1922. serial No. 549,910.

buretor 8, and having its extreme end 9 pointing away from saidcarburetor rather than intoit, as shown. 1Q indicates a fuel hydrocarbontank, connected to the carburetor by a pipe 11, only a portion of whichis shown in Figure 2.

The operation of this invention is as follows: The container 1 islocated at any suitable and convenient point on the machine, and

the connections lwith the engine being substantially as shown, theoperator, on opening the valve 5, will permit gaseous oxygen to passinto the carburetor only when a suction is created. That is to say, assoon as the air 6 5 is drawn into the carbuietorf'through the suction ofthe engine, the gaseous oxygen will be reversed in its normal directionof flow and drawn into said carburetor along with the air.

The extreme end' 9 of the oxygen pipe 6 i is pointed away from thecarburetor 8 in order that the oxygen will not reach the in'- takemanifold except when a suction exists therein. In other words, with theend 9 75 pointing in an oppositedirection, oxygen would be liable toleak into the carburetor, and thus find its way into the intake manifoldwhen the car is left standing over-"more or less long periods of time,with the result that when the engine is started its cylinders would beat first filled with relatively pure oxygen, and therefore, the initialexplosions might be so violentas to wreck the engine. By pointing the-end9of the'pipe 85' 6, however, away from the lcarburetor 8, as shown,any leaksof oxygen that may occur will not do any damage, because .theoxygen will be diffused away into the air, and thus will only a normalmixture of oxygen or less 90 than a normal mixture of oxygen,b`e foundinthe initial explosive charges whenstart- Further, as it is desired tocarry the gaseous oxygen 'at as higha pressure as possible, with safety,I may, 1n some 95 cases, adopt the form vof oxygen contalning tank 1that is illustratedl in Figure 4, T hat. is, I may place insidesaidtank 1. a similar tank 15, provided with numerous small perforations16.

The operation of such a relation of parts, upon an explosion takingplace, 1s as fol.- lows: When the outer wall or tank 1 is ruptured onlythe gas which is under pressure in the space 17 is available'as apropelling agent. In other words, this gas being relatively small involume, its pressure is very quickly relieved, and therefore itspropelling capacity is relatively small. By far the greater volume ofgas may be contained 1n the space 18 and this can only escape throughthe relatively Asinall perforations 16, so that its explosive pressureis likewise relatively small. The result is upon explosion thepropelling capacity of the main body of gas is llkewise very small. Thenet result of the construction therefore is that when a tank under veryhigh-pressure explodes, the rupturing effects on the apparatussurrounding the same are reduced to a minimum.

By actual tests l'have found vthat gaseous oxygen introduced into thecylinders of'an internalcombustion engine in accordance with the abovedisclosure possesses a great many advantages of great commercialimportance. lThat is to say, with a six-cylinder engine, the bore ofwhich was 4B- inches and the stroke of which was 7 inches, and whichengine was mounted on a block and connected to a d'ynamometer, it wasfound that when no oxygen was admitted to the cylinders, the pull was 62pounds, at a speed of 700 revolutions per minute. When oxygen wasadmitted to the cylinders, the pull was 78 pounds and the speed was 840revolutions per minute. In other words, the admission of oxygen inaccordance with the disclosure above, gave an increase of power ofapproximately 51%. Another series of tests was then run in which thespeed was held constant at 7 OO revolutions per minute. rllhe pullwithout oxygen was 72 pounds, while with oxygen the pull was 1111pounds, thus giving a gain in power of slightly more than 58%. Othertests for power were run with the results that an average gain of about54% was observed.

lin addition to the above tests, efforts were made to determine the rateof use of oxygen that would give a maximum increase of power. rlhat is,a test for aperiod ,of ten minutes was had and the consumption of oxygenwas found to be at the rate 118.8 cubic feet per hour, when therevolutions per minute were found to be 700. From the disclosures atthis speed, one may readily compute the consumption of oxygen of anyengine at any speed, but he should allow for a possible error of, say,from to 5% in the results.

The advantages of this process of using gaseous oxygen may be found inthe fol- Towing:

(a) lEcomony of fuel to a degree several times thevalue of the oxygenused;

renacer A saving in the expense of having the engine cleaned of carbon,and also a saving in the loss of time involved in thc cleaning of theengine. y

(c) The starting and the ope-ration of the engine is efficient from thestart.v y y (d) Much of the present wear and tear on theengine due tocarbon knocks is avoided.

(e) The use of oxygen-renders available to operators 50% additionalpower when required, thus enabling engineers to modify their presentpractice with respect to the engine horsepower per ton of weight.

(f) The present low grade of fuel is rendered quite satisfactory, and itis possible to use still lower grades of fuel than those that are nowused.

Of course, it is obvious that pressure reducers and other suitableapparatus not shown or described, which will be found desirable, in theuse of gaseous oxygen under pressure, may be employed in connection withthis invention. These various devices being of a well knownconstruction, it is not deemed necessary to further referto them here.

What is claimed is:

1. rlthe method of rendering safe the starting of an internal combustionengine with the aid of free gaseous oxygen which consists in leadingsaid oxygen to the air intake of the carburetorof said engine andcausing said oxygen to flow in a direction opposite to that of theentering air; reversing the direction of flow of said oxygen by suckingit along with the air into said carburetor to form a mixtureof air,oxygen, and hydrocarbon; and exploding said mixture in the engine. Y

2. The method of operating a vehicle propelled by an internal combustionengine with the aid of gaseous oxygen, which consists in carrying saidoxygen under pressure on said vehicle, .leading said oxygen to the airintake of the carburetor of said engine and causing it to flow into theair in a direction opposite that of the suction of said engine; suckingsaid oxygen along with the outside air into and through said carburetorto form an explosive mixture: and exploding said mixture in said engine.

3. lin-an apparatus for utilizing free gas eous oxygen in an internalcombustion engine, the combination of a container for said oxygen; acarburetor having an air intake; and a connection between said tank andsaid intake delivering oxygen in a direction opposite that of theincoming air.

4. lin an apparatus for utilizing free gaseous oxygen in an internalcombustion engine, the combination of a container for said oxygenprovided with an inner perforated casing to lessen the force of anyexplosion that might occur; a carburetor having an air intake; and aconnection between said tank lid and said intakedelivering oxygen in adiine as will normally prevent said oxygen rection opposite thatv of thelncoming air. rom entering, in substantial quantities, the

5. The method of rendering safe ther startengine, when the latter is notrunning, and 10 ing of an internal combustion engine with will enablesaid oxygen under suction to en- '5 the aid of -free gaseous oxygen,which conter said engine when -the latter is running.

sists in leadingl said oxygen to suoli a point ln testimony whereof alxmy si ature. in proximity to the carburetor of said env EDWARD M. SHIN

